Phase modulation schemes are very effective and are therefore widely used in communication systems. A simple example of a phase modulation scheme is quaternary phase shift keying (QPSK). FIG. 1 shows a constellation diagram that illustrates how QPSK maps two-bit digital data to one of four phase offsets. FIG. 2 shows a typical QPSK (or I/Q) modulator used to generate a phase-modulated signal. This technique relies on orthogonal signal vectors to realize the phase offsets—an inherently linear technique, since it depends solely on the matching of these orthogonal signals.
The I/Q modulator provides a straightforward approach to generating phase-modulated signals. But, it is also possible to generate the phase-modulated signals using a phase-locked loop. This approach offers reduced circuitry, lowers power consumption, and as a result, finds widespread use in narrowband systems. A variation of this approach, known as two-point modulation, introduces direct modulation of a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) to support wideband phase modulation. Unfortunately, this requires the gain of the VCO to be accurately set—a difficult task since the VCO gain depends on multiple factors. It would therefore be advantageous to have a system to accurately set the gain of a VCO.